Maybe what happened that night was about racism, maybe it wasn't, but the case has been decided, and from there it can continue on through all the regular channels. What function does it serve for Obama to continue bringing the subject up and up again? What function does it serve for him to make an assumption? After all, he’s the President of the United States, his mere opinion carries some weight. An assumption from him is fact for others, so how can this do anything other than stoke racial tensions?

And while there are valuable points among what he says, point which are generally true, why are there also dramatic embellishments? They’re what this thread has been about, not the core meaning of his statements. You can get away with arguments and phrasing of this level when you are a random anonymous poster on the internet, but not when you hold a public office, and especially not when you hold as important an office as his.

So basically my point is that his remarks were sloppy and detrimental. I don’t feel like he said anything that will calm people or bring them together, and may just raise tensions instead. Does being right about some things really excuse all these other factors?

And while what I said before was quite heated and written under the influence of passion, I stand by it. I think he is lumping all black people together, and I do find that racist, no matter how much shared culture and history many might share. There is a world of difference between people based on their geography, socioeconomic status, and a slew of other factors. To me, what Obama is saying by comparing himself or his hypothetical son to Martin (which he has done twice now, meaning that he had plenty of time to think about it), is that those differences mean nothing. They share one similarity, and that is the color of their skin, and apparently that is the only factor that matters. This isn't true, and the President shouldn't be spouting opinions as fact during a press conference. (I am speaking about his comments on the experiences all African Americans have shared, which is purely anecdotal. There is a grain of truth there, but it isn't fact, it isn't a study, and it isn't a statistic, so he has no business trying to pass it off as such.)